A gun buy-back program on Feb 23 had the goal first and foremost of getting guns off the street and out of homes where children can get hurt. A second goal: to study whether gun buy-backs are effective.

A gun buy-back program on Feb 23 had the goal first and foremost of getting guns off the street and out of homes where children can get hurt. A second goal: to study whether gun buy-backs are effective. Police departments from Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park were given more than $50,000 to buy guns back from residents. The program started on Saturday.

The citizen led program was launched following the tragedy at Newtown School in Connecticut not long ago, and all funds were contributed by donors. Normally cities and counties pay for the costs of a buy-back program.

Stanford graduate students will do research to see if the effects are measurable. They will look at data from the three police departments and compare violent crime rates before and after the buy-back.

People who brought in guns yesterday were eligible to receive $100 for a handgun, $200 for a rifle or shotgun, and $300 for an assault weapon. Some left disappointed, when the police ran out of money. A discussion of gun control and a rally to end violence was held in front of Palo Alto City Hall the same day.

A publicly funded buy-back will be held by Santa Clara County on March 2.

There is no need for any guns, real or toy, anywhere, either in civilian society, in the hands of the police, prison guards or in the military, all of which positions should be abolished. The Second Amendment is the Slave Patrol Amendment, another concession, in addition to the Electoral College, to the slave states. The killings in the workingclass communities are a result of fights over illegal drugs, which illegal drugs should be legalized, getting them off the street as they will have no street market value. War is not a game and war toys, including guns, are lessons in killing, lessons no one needs. Anger management starts first and foremost with getting rid of all guns. The reason this country has some 32 killings a day is because this is a highly militarized, backward cesspool where guns, violent TV programs, contempt for education and no labor organizing are primary. The US is No. 1 in producing guns because it is profitable and maximization of profit is all this backward country cares about. To get rid of the private profit system that is destroying humanity and the earth, we need labor organizing for a general strike, of the entire workingclass, of all colors. We are black, brown, yellow, red and white, male and female and any sexual orientation; the 80% of us who sell our labor for less than $80,000 a year. And hurry up with the general strike because we do not have forever.

How do you people think we can make any demands when we are helpless and come as beggers when making demands. When We give up our right to bear arms cannot expect our government any agree to any "Demands" we make.